


the silence speaks volumes

by i_am_trash_15



Series: random schlangst aus [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Select Mutism, Selectively mute Jschlatt, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, big brother jschlatt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29098164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_am_trash_15/pseuds/i_am_trash_15
Summary: In a world where everyone's love to-be is determined by a single spoken sentence, Wilbur finds himself in the presence of someone who doesn't want to make conversation.
Relationships: Jschlatt/Wilbur Soot, Schlattbur
Series: random schlangst aus [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2134968
Comments: 2
Kudos: 260





	the silence speaks volumes

**Author's Note:**

> im sorry if i offend anyone with my lack of knowledge of sign language.

Everyone looked forward to when they would meet their soulmate. Sometimes it was in passing, sometimes through friends, and sometimes completely on accident. All that someone had to do was hear their soulmate say those words that were branded on their arms since birth. Sometimes people would go their entire lives without hearing the words, sometimes they would meet them at childhood.

Wilbur’s soul phrase was very… unique. It would be placeable, at the least. He had heard that some people never know who their soulmate is, because their soul phrase was something everyone says.

Wilbur had just started the new school year, and it was going very well. Aside from a few bumps here and there, everything was going smoothly. His grades were good, his teachers liked him, life was good.

But he couldn’t help but notice the kid in the middle row. There was nothing really spectacular about him, it was just… the kid never spoke. Not once had Wilbur heard a word out of that kid for the entire time that he’d been in class with him. And the teacher just seemed fine with it! It was completely unfair! Literally everyone in the class had to participate, except this one kid.

Wilbur was telling Phil about it one night while they were having dinner with Wilbur’s brothers, Techno and Tommy.

“I just don’t get it! The teacher just seems to accept that he won’t participate, and he’s just able to sit there and take his notes, and do whatever, and leave. Everyone else has to think of a good response to the question the teacher asks, except him!” Wilbur groaned, poking at his food.

“Who are we talking about?” Techno asked.

“Some kid in my class. He never fucking talks, and the teacher just accepts it.”

“What’s he look like? I might know him.”

“I doubt it. I don’t think you have any classes with him.”

“Well describe him.”

“He’s got brown hair, he’s tall ish, but shorter than me.”

“Oh, Schlatt?”

“Think that was his name. How the hell do you know him?”

“He sits with me at lunch. We eat in silence,” Techno grinned.

“Do you know what his deal is?” Wilbur asked, rubbing his forehead.

“Yeah. He’s mute.”

“Oh, are you serious?” Wilbur gaped. That would explain quite a bit.

“At least selectively mute.” Wilbur quirked an eyebrow. “It means that he chooses to be quiet. I think he said that he just gets kinda anxious about it.”

“He said?”

“Sorry. It was more like charades and writing on napkins.”

“Hmm. Anyway, I don’t know why it keeps bothering me, it just does,” Wilbur grumbled. Techno hummed uncaringly, going back to eating.

“Why don’t you try and befriend him,” Phil suggested. “Try and help him open up a bit.” Wilbur thought about it. 

“Maybe I should.”

  
  


The next day, Wilbur sat down in class, and waited for class to start. His classmates filtered in, and eventually the boy came and sat in his usual place. Wilbur studied him for the entirety of class, barely paying attention. As it turned out, the boy just wrote down his responses on a piece of paper and gave them to the teacher after class. Wilbur felt a tap on his shoulder, and a little scrap of paper was being handed to him. He turned to see the boy, glaring at him. Wilbur read the slip of paper.

_ You have been staring at me all class, what do you want? _

Now or never. Might as well try and be friends.

“Oh, hello there. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just, erm, liked your shirt.” He inwardly cringed. That was the worst excuse he had ever heard come out of his mouth, and evidently the boy thought so, too, signing ‘thanks’ with a confused expression. There were a few signs that Wilbur knew, and evidently the silent boy had figured out the very few common signs, thank you being one of them. The kid’s eyes had brightened for a millisecond when Wilbur had said the first sentence, but quickly dulled again.

“My name’s Wilbur, by the way. Wilbur Soot. What’s yours?” Wilbur asked. He opened his mouth to respond, before clicking it shut with an embarrassed expression, electing to flip over the paper and just write it.

_ Schlatt. _

“Schlatt? Is that your first or last name?” Schlatt held up two fingers. “What's your first name?”

_ J. _

“Does that stand for anything?” he prompted. Schlatt nodded. “What?” He shook his head. He wasn’t going to say, apparently. “So I’ll just call you Schlatt, then. That alright?” Schlatt nodded at Wilbur’s words, before going back to his seat and grabbing his backpack.

“So Schlatt, would you like to sit with me at lunch?” The brunette pulled a notepad from his pocket.

_ I normally sit with someone else, sorry. _

“Oh, that’s fine. Do you mind if I sit with you, then? And the person you sit with, of course,” Wilbur added. Schlatt looked at the floor, before shrugging and nodding. He led them over to a small round table in the back of the cafeteria, where Wilbur’s brother, Technoblade, sat.

“Hey, Schlatt. Wilbur? Can I help you?” Techno asked.

“No, just figured I’d sit with you guys today.” Wilbur said. Techno squinted suspiciously at him, but then rolled his eyes. Wilbur sat down. Techno looked at Schlatt, who looked very confused.

“We’re brothers,” Techno explained, gesturing at Wilbur and himself. Schlatt nodded slowly, before reaching into his backpack. Wilbur thought he was going to pull out another notepad, but instead he fetched a rather squashed-looking sandwich in a little plastic bag.

It was very awkward at this table, Wilbur was quick to realize. Neither Schlatt nor his brother said a word as they ate, and Wilbur was beginning to understand why Techno sat with Schlatt. His brother was a man of few words, and generally preferred when he did not have to participate in a conversation. It made sense that Schlatt would sit with him. They didn’t seem to be friends, it didn’t seem that either had any real desire to be friends. It just seemed like a mutualistic relationship where neither of them had to talk, but they looked not lonely.

At the end of the lunch period, Schlatt seemed to melt into the crowds. Wilbur couldn’t find him. He probably went to his next class.

  
  
  


One thing that Wilbur noticed after sitting with Schlatt for a week was that the boy literally made no sound. If at all possible, there would be no sound from that boy. When people addressed him, he would make a hum in the back of his throat to show that they had his attention, but otherwise he would say nothing. It was easy to forget that he was in the room at times.

Another thing that Wilbur noticed was that the guy ate the same sandwich every single day, and he looked like he hated it. Wilbur wondered why he ate it, then.

_ It’s the only thing I brought _ , Schlatt wrote in his little notepad.

He was talking to Phil about it one day, and Phil suggested that maybe Wilbur bring him something else, give him a choice between the two. So one morning, as Wilbur was making his own lunch, he made Schlatt a sandwich different from his normal one. At lunch, he offered it to the silent teen, who looked unsure, but when Wilbur said he’d made it just for him, he took it. When he ate it, he looked up and grinned at him, giving a thumbs up, and signing thank you.

  
  


“Phil, can I invite Schlatt over for dinner this week?”

“Uhh, I guess, why?”

“I dunno, I guess I just wanna try and be friends with him. I think you’d like him, too, he’s funny. You know sign language, right?”

“Yeah,” Phil said.

“Great. He won’t have to write down his jokes anymore.” Phil chuckled. 

  
  


Wilbur invited the boy in class, and he wrote that he would get back to him. He seemed excited at the invitation, though. He texted someone about it, then waited for a reply.

At lunch, there was still no word from whoever Schlatt had texted.

At the end of the day, Wilbur was walking out, when he heard footsteps running up behind him. A sticky note was thrust into his hand, and Wilbur looked around to see Schlatt, out of breath behind him. He looked down at the note.

_ Do you mind if my brother comes, too? _

“Sure, how old is he?” Schlatt opened his mouth to speak, then snapped it shut before he could say anything. Putting his hand on his forehead in the shape of an L, he brought it down to meet his other hand, pointing at Wilbur.

“Is that calling me a loser?” Wilbur squinted. Schlatt rolled his eyes and shook his head no. He tried again, this time just pointing at Wilbur and making a shrinking motion.

“Little me?” Wilbur guessed. Schlatt waved his hand in a ‘kinda’ motion, then tried again a little differently. “Me but small?” Eventually Schlatt just gave up and started counting for him, coming up with thirteen.

“Hey, Tommy is thirteen, too!” Schlatt smacked his forehead. “Ohh, you were signing little brother, weren’t you?” Schlatt gave up trying to play charades and dropped his backpack, rummaging around til he found a piece of paper, 

_ Remind me to just write next time. _

“Yeah, that was painful to watch,” Techno said, appearing from the crowd. “So what’s the verdict? Are you coming?” Everyone in the house knew that Wilbur was gonna ask. It was Tommy’s favorite thing to tease him about liking Schlatt, but it simply wasn’t true. It wasn’t true. It wasn’t.

He didn’t know who he was trying to convince more, Tommy or himself.

  
  


Schlatt had to pick up his little brother from school, and the closer they got to Tommy’s school, the more he entertained the thought of how funny it would be if Tommy and Schlatt’s brother knew each other. Techno had gone on home to help Phil with dinner, so it was just the two of them. It was nice.

They got there as school was letting out, and Tommy came running out as soon as he saw him, dragging along his best friend Tubbo.

“Hey, Wilbur! I was gonna walk Tubbo home, what’s up?”

“Oh, we’re here to pick up Schlatt’s younger brother, they’re coming over for dinner tonight,” Wilbur explained. Tubbo quirked an eyebrow.

“We are?” He asked, looking at Schlatt, who smiled and nodded. “Awesome!” He and Tommy fist bumped.

“Schlatt, Tubbo is your little brother? He comes over all the time, I never knew that!” Schlatt just smirked and signed something, which Tubbo automatically translated as ‘small world’.

“You know sign language?” Tommy asked his best friend.

“Yeah. It’s more convenient than a notepad,” the boy responded.

They all started walking towards Wilbur and Tommy’s house, the two younger boys laughing and shouting all the way, and Tubbo going into a rant about bee facts at one point, but it was nice just walking with Schlatt. He could tune out the boys, but he couldn’t tune out Schlatt if he tried. Kind of ironic how that happened, he thought. The two loud forces he could tune out, but he couldn’t tune out the silent force beside him.

As small and quiet as Schlatt let others make him out to be, once you got to know him, even while silent he was a powerful force, strong as the tide. Pulling away from some people and conversations just to crash into the lives of others like him.

He’s one of those people that you regret passing off as just another person. Wilbur was so glad he had zeroed in on his frequency.

  
  


They got to Wilbur’s house, and went inside. Phil waved, and Tubbo hi-fived him.

“Tubbo is Tommy’s best friend, he comes over a lot,” Wilbur explained in a whisper, and Schlatt tapped his head. He already knew.

Phil came over to Schlatt and shook his hand before beginning a conversation in sign language. Schlatt smiled and signed something back.

“Oh, I thought you couldn’t hear well, either. That’s how it is with most people I meet who don’t talk.” Phil chuckled awkwardly, and Schlatt was quick to reassure him.

They all sat down for dinner and ate, and everyone talked once done.

Wilbur, not paying half as much attention to the conversation as he should be, looked at the branded words on his wrist. They were in all-caps, so they were said in shouting, but Wilbur would have been able to tell that even if they were not all in capital letters. The words on his wrist might come across as obscene to some, given the vulgar language, but to others, it was just a way of speech. Whoever it was wanted him to shut up. He guessed he would know who when they said it.

Looking over at his silent friend, he couldn’t help but wonder what words were written on his wrist. Did he already have a soulmate? He wondered what they were like.

But that would imply that Schlatt had ever spoken to anyone. He didn’t seem to do that much. He could just ask… but that might give off the wrong impression. He could ask Tubbo… he might know.

“-Wilbur!” He heard his name being called. “For the fifteenth time, did you even hear me?” Tommy asked indignantly.

“Sorry… lost in thought.”

“What thought?”

“What were you saying, Tommy?”

“Right, well, if you are listening, you would know that I am taking it upon myself to find Tubbo a bee. The biggest bee. A titan among bees.”

“I see. Well, good luck.”

  
  


After dinner, Wilbur pulled Tommy aside and asked him to ask Tubbo if Schlatt had found his soulmate.

“Oh ho ho, I see, you like him, don’t you?” Tommy wiggled his eyebrows at him.

“What? No!” he said, too quickly.

“Sure you don’t. I’ll ask him. HEY, TUBBO!” He shouted. The boy came bouncing in, grinning.

“Yeees?”

“Does Schlatt have a soulmate?” Tommy asked, very bluntly.

“Hmm, well, no. Not officially, anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“He usually waits to see other people’s reactions to him talking to find out who it is.”

“Why doesn’t he talk more, then?”

“He has been crushed so many times,” Tubbo said, rubbing the back of his neck. Wilbur’s heart sank. Schlatt seemed entirely unbothered by the whole soulmate thing, and now Wilbur understood why.

“Is that why he doesn’t talk?”

“Part of the reason,” Tubbo nodded.

“And the other part?”

“He gets really anxious when talking. Just prefers not to.”

“Oh.”

“So why did you want to know?”

“Because he likes him,” Tommy jumped in before Wilbur could think of a good excuse. Wilbur turned beet red and fumbled for something to say.

“Aww, that’s really sweet,” Tubbo said, grinning.

“I- no, that’s not what I-”

“I’m sure that he would love to hear that.”

“No, no, it’s not like that, I don’t like him,” Wilbur snapped, harder than he’d meant to. Tommy’s eyes flicked away, onto something else.

“Wilbur…” Tommy’s tone was low.

“No, no. I don’t like him. I don’t.”

“Wilbur…”

“Shut the fuck up, Tommy, I don’t. You too, Tubbo. I don’t.

“Hey, I said nothing,” Tubbo said. Tommy scowled, refocusing back on Wilbur.

“Don’t tell him to shut up! He’s Tubbo, he hasn’t done anything wrong, you prick!”

It just devolved into a shouting match between the two brothers from then. Tubby eventually saw something, presumably what Tommy was looking at before, and ducked behind them. About two minutes of straight shouting later, Phil and Techno wandered in to see what the commotion is, just for someone to shout over them;

“OH MY GOD WOULD YOU ALL SHUT THE  _ FUCK _ UP!” And everyone froze, turning to the sound. Schlatt went pale beside Tubbo. “sorry…”

Wilbur was in shock. He gripped his wrist, right over where the soul phrase was. He reached out to apologise to Schlatt, but the other disappeared from the room. Once everyone else’s shock wore off, they left the room.

Techno stayed behind.

“That’s what your arm says, isn’t it?” The pinkette asked. Wilbur nodded shallowly. “Do you know what his says?”

“No.”

“It says something that literally almost everyone says. It says ‘hello there’. He told me that that was what you first said to him, but almost everyone says that to him. He’s lost hope that he’ll ever meet his soulmate, because it is such a common phrase. And yet you said it, and his first words to you are on your arm, so it must mean something. Go talk to him.”

“Thanks, Tech.” His older brother clapped him on the back, and Wilbur set after Schlatt.

He finally found him on the back porch, and he sat down next to him.

“It’s a nice night,” Wilbur murmured. Schlatt nodded dully.

“Can I see your arm?” Schlatt looked at him funny. “I meant your soul phrase. Can I see your soul phrase.” Schlatt hesitantly offered Wilbur his arm. ‘ _ Hello there _ ’ was written in neat block letters. Wilbur offered his arm to Schlatt. He looked at it for a long time.

“I’m sorry,” Schlatt whispered. His voice was hoarse from disuse.

“What for?”

“I… I heard you guys talking before the yelling started. You don’t like me, now you’re stuck with me. I’m sorry. I should have kept my fucking mouth shut, like always. No one wants to hear me speak.”

“No, no no, that’s not it at all! I was just… I didn’t think I had a chance with you, so I was trying to distance myself so that I didn’t end up falling even more… I’m so sorry.” Schlatt didn’t say anything. “And… I’d love to hear you speak.” He offered Schlatt a soft smile. He looked up at him with big eyes, a soft blush tinting his cheeks.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I suppose I could talk a little more… for you…” Schlatt smiled back. They settled into a comfortable silence. This time it was Schlatt who broke the quiet.

“So… soulmates, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“So what does that make us? Like, what are we?”

“What do you want us to be?”

“I dunno, think it’d be cool if we dated or something…” his voice trailed off at the end, but the message was clear enough.

“I’d like that,” Wilbur said, smiling.

“Me too.” They fell into the comfortable silence again, and Wilbur eventually pulled Schlatt into a side-cuddle. The other didn’t protest, instead melting into the hug. Wilbur couldn’t help the giddy smile that came to his face.

Tommy could make fun of him all he wanted. This was more than he had ever wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! lmk if you want more selectively mute schlatt! prolly not in this au, but ill figure something out.


End file.
